Monday, November 24, 2014

November 3, 2014

hi!!! Can you believe it's november 3 already? where is time going?

This week we met with 정주윤 (jong joo yoon) and she also came to stake conference. She is keeping commitments and wants to be baptized on the 15th. We actually had the opportunity to teach her with her brother-in-law who is a member. He was able to share his testimony of the temple and the blessings that we receive if we keep the commandments and are worthy. It was good. She also saw her cousin, Elder Lee at conference and it was good!

Each friday we meet with the bishop's wife and her friend and do the family english program together. She is keeping commitments and reading the Book of Mormon, but doesn't seem to be super interested in it. When we teach her it is a little bit hard because she has her son with her who is a big distraction but she tries to listen. We gave her a soft baptismal commitment and she said yes, but she kind of seems to just be going through the motions. I need to find out how she can become more converted.

We got a referral from the Bishop of Nokebeon ward last week! (did i tell you this already? can't remember?) We went with him and visited an older lady who he knows in our area. She is about 88 years old and has no belief. We talked a lot about the plan of Salvation and that we will see our families again after this life. She doesn't want to keep meeting, but we might try and help her here and there.

I went on exchanges with 홍선혜 this week and it was good! I was a little nervous because she speaks no English and the other 3 girls she lives with are Korean and one speaks english. But it worked out and I was able to speak Korean to her the whole time. We communicated totally fine. it was a miracle! We did lots of street contacting and I learned new things from her.!

I had interviews with President Christensen this week. I asked him some questions of how I can improve my prayers and he encouraged me to try to pray vocally and thank Him for 10 minutes. So yesterday and today I have been doing it. At first when I knelt down I wondered if I could fill up the time with just things I am thankful for, but I thought and then began praying. As I prayed I thought of so many things that I am thankful for. The more I thanked Him, the more I realized I have. I have been blessed with so much!! I felt so peaceful and happy. I found an appreciation for things I wouldn't normally appreciate or thank Him for. Praying out loud also helped me to understand and remember that He really is listening to me right when I say my prayers. It was a really cool opportunity to express my faith to Heavenly Father through my gratitude. After I finished my prayer I felt so light weight and happy. I realized I had prayed and thanked Him for 25 minutes and I was so shocked because i didn't realize that much time had gone by. It was a special experience. I think this is really good for me because I think the reason my prayers seemed to feel different was because I was 1. showing less gratitude and 2. not always aligning my will with His will. Nothing changed on His part. It is my own fault for showing less faith through my prayers. I am going to continue to improve my prayers. I have been studying prayer a lot this and I have already learned a lot.

love you all! thanks for all the emails!

your halloween costumes are so cute! you got so much candy!!! Korea doesn't really celebrate haloween so us 4 sisters made brownies and had ice cream on halloween night! it was fun! The jazz game looks like a blast! I love the pic of the jazz bear holding marv and trev! so cute! D-man i'm happy to hear ASU won! and that BYU actually ended their losing streak. haha :/ I love you all so much! have a good week!